ORLAND PARK, Ill. (STMW) – A longtime teacher at Brother Rice High School was found dead in his southwest suburban Orland Park home Tuesday, sparking a police investigation because his death was deemed potentially “suspicious in nature.”
Al Filan, chairman of the business department and a business teacher at Brother Rice for nearly 40 years, was found dead about 10:35 a.m. Tuesday in his home, according to authorities.
Besides teaching at the high school on the Far Southwest Side, Filan also was a longtime soccer coach in the southwest suburbs, the Southtown Star is reporting.
They said that when Filan did not report for work, police were asked to make a well-being check and officers found Filan lying dead on the kitchen floor.
Police had not released Filan’s identity as of Tuesday night, but the Cook County medical examiner’s office confirmed his death. It said an autopsy was scheduled for Wednesday to determine the cause of death.
Orland Park police and members of the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force were at Filan’s house for several hours Tuesday. Investigators could be seen from the street Tuesday evening, going from room to room in the home.
Orland Park police Cmdr. John Keating said it was unclear how Filan died, but the circumstances “raised enough concern that we contacted the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force. That’s customary in any type of death investigation that you feel may be suspicious in nature.”
Keating declined to say what raised investigators’ suspicions.
“We don’t want to leave any stone unturned if there’s any possibility [of] foul play,” he said. “That’s why I made the call to request assistance from the task force. They’ve handled homicides in the south suburbs for many years, but at this time I can’t confirm that [it is a homicide]. It’s still classified a death investigation at this point until the medical examiner tells us otherwise.”
“It was like a ‘CSI’ episode come to life,” a neighbor said of the police activity in the neighborhood.
Brother Rice issued a statement Tuesday, expressing sorrow at Filan’s death, saying that he had “touched the lives of thousands of students, colleagues and family members” at the school in Chicago’s Mount Greenwood community and “will be fondly missed.” Filan taught at Brother Rice for more than 39 years, according to the school’s website.
Filan also was a former head coach of the girls soccer program at Andrew High School in Tinley Park.
Andrew athletic director Rich Piatchek said Filan most recently coached there in the 2009-10 school year, assisting with both the boys and girls programs. Prior to that, he oversaw the girls program for at least 10 years, and the team won four or five regional titles, Piatchek said.
“He knew more soccer than most people ever knew, and the kids loved him,” Piatchek said. “He was known by everybody in the soccer community as a guru. He was a very bright person. He knew his stuff.”
Tinley Park Mayor Ed Zabrocki, a former Brother Rice teacher and guidance counselor for many years while Filan also was on the faculty, said he was sorry to hear of his death.
“He had a rough exterior, but he really had a heart of gold,” Zabrocki said. “He was quite a character. He came across as a rough, gruff guy, but that’s not the way he was.”
A woman who answered a phone number listed for a brother of Filan said no one there had a comment.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2014. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
